Past Projects

Nordic Night in Nature 2023

Nordic Night in Nature is a tradition that connects people in Sweden, Denmark, Finland, and Norway through outdoor activities. Spending time in nature is good for both physical and mental health.

The Night in Nature campaign started in Norway in 2015 and has been a Nordic collaboration for the past two years. The goals were to:

• encourage people to participate in outdoor activities
• raise awareness about the health benefits of being outdoors
• support local clubs in organizing events and volunteering
• the campaign took place in August/September 2023 across the Nordic countries, aiming to get 450,000 people to spend a night in nature.

Key activities included:

• A Nordic marketing campaign targeting young children’s parents on social media
• Customized national campaigns with events,PR, influencer marketing, and social media

Key findings:

• Innovative, country-specific campaigns helped the project to achieve its goal of encouraging a significant number of peo­ple across the Nordics to spend a night outdoors.
• Project reached 20% of the Nordic population cost-effectively through strategic promotion on social media.
• Effective multi-country collaboration amplifies a shared objective concerning health, nature, and outdoor cultures.
• New participants can be attracted with well targeted communica­tion and events.

Outcomes:

• 480 000 people spent the night in nature (1,7 % of the total population)
• 5,6 million people were aware of the campaign (20,3% of the total population)
• 6,4 million digital media reach
• 280 total number of events

The NIN project was co-funded by the European Union.

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Suomen Latu's Nepal Project (2008-2014)

Suomen Latu’s Nepal Project (2008-2014) was based on renovating a 96-kilometer hiking trail and developing local nature tourism in the Kathmandu Valley. The project area was located just an hour’s drive from the capital city of four million inhabitants. The most important destination in the project area is Shivapuri National Park, where visitor numbers rose dramatically during the project: In 2008, Shivapuri National Park had 76,605 visitors, while in 2012, 154,845 visitors were registered at the national park entrance. The total cost of the project was approximately 480,000 euros, of which 75 percent was covered by the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The remaining costs were covered by fundraising and administrative work.

During the project, among other things:

• 4,200 trees were planted
• 219 concrete waste collection points were installed
• 468 local people were trained in nature tourism, including as guides, guesthouse operators, and organic farmers
• 6 toilets, 17 resting areas, and 3 community houses were built
• Over 7 kilometers of hiking trail were renovated
• The trail was marked with more than 500 signs and trail markings
• 58 cleanup days were organized along the trail

The project has benefited numerous different groups in the project area: guesthouse and hotel operators, local underemployed women, unemployed youth, and farmers. In total, more than 4,000 people benefited from the project. The project aimed to primarily benefit more disadvantaged groups: women, youth, and those outside the caste system. This was not entirely successful, because although 86 percent of the beneficiaries belonged to the 16-40 age group, only 2 percent of beneficiaries were Dalits (those outside the caste system). Women also made up significantly fewer beneficiaries than men, only 34 percent. This result is largely explained by Nepal’s hierarchical social structure: women and those outside the caste system are not involved in all the activities that were promoted in this project. For example, a woman working as a wilderness guide in Nepal is extremely rare and causes disapproval in the community.